[LivoniaMi]

Originally Posted by danielj72

It was confusing, not because I didnt get it, but because most drivers in the roundabout do not know how to use them.

That's exactly why I hate them. People seem to panic in them. So many people look lost, and swerve from one lane to the next with hardly even looking to see who is there.

[MI-Roger]

Body Shop owners are the biggest fans, lots of low speed collisions.

Originally Posted by magellan

Got stats for that?

I intended that as a little dark humor, or tongue in cheek humor, but it is based on actual comments made by Public Safety offcials near Brighton MI following the installation of multiple traffic circles at the US-23 and Lee Rd Interchange, and Lee Rd and Whitmore Lake Rd instersections. Three traffic circles installed in close proximity, possibly less than 1/2 mile distance. This combination of traffic circles has already been celebrated on internet sites and in magazine articles as an example of poor trafic planning.

I don't know the history of road design in the North East US, but I believe traffic circles are common there as an attempt to correct an an old fluke of urban planning. Many older cities were built containing multiple small squares as a concentration of commercial businesses rather than a single Main Street that we are familiar with here in the Mid-West. These squares often had a monument or fountain as the centerpiece, and horsedrawn traffic flowed around the square on the four encircling street sections. The advent of the automobile and its accompanying higher speeds made navigating multiple 90-degree turns around a statue to connect with other city streets difficult, so the traffic people replaced the square with a circle. An improvement for their situation.

So now we are to assume that since Boston, Cambridge, and Sommerville have multiple traffic circles, and since these adjoining cities contain some of our contry's best universities and thinkers, these circles obviously are a great idea. Strange justification to me.

Why don't we also adopt New Jersey's infamous Jug Handle Turns? NJ is on the East Coast too. Makes as much sense as blindly installing a traffic device that was created to solve a unique historical problem we generally don't have in Michigan.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by PeteBarnum

Do you have stats for how safe they are? Roundabouts work if they have the layout of several roads that connect in some way, then they may work. The one in gaylord has no use whatsoever, if you think that works, then every cross road needs a round about. People who want to drive strait then go in a circle every cross road need to go to the fair and go on some rides if you need a thrill that bad, or find a nice girl or rent one.

That's a mature response.

[darstar]

And while we are at it...how about those " Michigan turns things"..... I first encountered them while living in SW Mi. Holland has a these left lane loopers everywhere..... We have them in Marquette , also a pain to navagate. Those folks who are in the fast lane get very irritated when you slow down to enter the Michigan turn. We are talking speeds up to 55 on a major highway, and all I wanted to do was get back to the place I passed a while back....I get the finger for thinking about it, sometimes the horn.....Then there are the big trucks that are turning also and they are so long that the trailer blocks the fast lane...., seems to be a Michigan thing.....I understand old new England they can't help themselves , but the Midwest ?

[magellan]

Originally Posted by darstar

And while we are at it...how about those " Michigan turns things"..... I first encountered them while living in SW Mi. Holland has a these left lane loopers everywhere..... We have them in Marquette , also a pain to navagate. Those folks who are in the fast lane get very irritated when you slow down to enter the Michigan turn. We are talking speeds up to 55 on a major highway, and all I wanted to do was get back to the place I passed a while back....I get the finger for thinking about it, sometimes the horn.....Then there are the big trucks that are turning also and they are so long that the trailer blocks the fast lane...., seems to be a Michigan thing.....I understand old new England they can't help themselves , but the Midwest ?

THOSE I could live without. They actually add to your drive time, especially when you have to hit multiple lights to get through one damn intersection.

[wagonman76]

People I know call it a Michigan Left. I've seen them downstate. But also I encountered one the first time I went through Grayling during a wicked snowstormy night. I just turned left out of wherever I was and after awhile discovered I was going the wrong way. I can understand in a traffic heavy area like Holland it would make it easier to go left out of places, but Grayling???

[Specialbuddy]

Originally Posted by magellan

That's a mature response.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Sometimes I wonder if people from Michigan never leave the state. All the fuss over a little circle that actually has a useful function in some cases.

As for accidents, I've never seen anyone get rear ended or t-boned at a stop sign or traffic light. It never happens.

[Specialbuddy]

Originally Posted by darstar

And while we are at it...how about those " Michigan turns things"..... I first encountered them while living in SW Mi. Holland has a these left lane loopers everywhere..... We have them in Marquette , also a pain to navagate. Those folks who are in the fast lane get very irritated when you slow down to enter the Michigan turn. We are talking speeds up to 55 on a major highway, and all I wanted to do was get back to the place I passed a while back....I get the finger for thinking about it, sometimes the horn.....Then there are the big trucks that are turning also and they are so long that the trailer blocks the fast lane...., seems to be a Michigan thing.....I understand old new England they can't help themselves , but the Midwest ?

Every state has their own version of the "Michigan left".

[darstar]

Originally Posted by Specialbuddy

Every state has their own version of the "Michigan left".

Not so.... The closest would be on ramps and yield signs. Yes , people must learn to speed up quickly, but in a" Michigan Left", you are supposed to come to a complete stop, in the turn. thats not right at all.... I understand why these designs are being used, its to move traffic faster at less costs.That does not mean the people who use them are understanding. Case in point....getting the finger when you are in the left ( fast) lane, cause you are going to make a Mi. left soon.... At lest with the round a bout the traffic keeps moving...or is suposed to anyway , even if the Grandma ahead or along side you decides to drive in both lanes while going around and around....will be interesting ...later this year.

[us66]

Worst traffic circles I've seen: Interstate 75, exit 151, I think...Saginaw County. Traffic circles coming off the exit ramp. There's a truck stop at this interchange, and it looked like the semis had trouble negotiating it.